Sunday, May 29, 2016

Rehearsals continue for Vacation Bible School, the music this year is my favorite! In night four with Lydia, we have Paul, Silas, Timothy (Caleb) and Luke singing 'Philippi' to the Beach Boy's 'Kokomo.' Sing with me, you know the words, "Derbe and Lystra, oh I want to take you, down in Macedonia let's go spread the gospel, to the Gentiles, baby why don't we go . . ."

Another favorite is from the night about Rahab where Joshua sings, "I'll Make a Spy Out of You," to the tune of the song in Mulan, "I'll Make a Man Out of You." Fabulous! Should be another great year!

Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where he found a disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewish woman and a Greek father. Acts 16:1

Saturday, May 28, 2016

Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band continued their “I Don’t Know” tour tonight at the Toyota Stadium in Frisco, TX. Jon and I were bummed that ZZ Top did not open for the show because of a shoulder injury. Buffett played a dozen song and then after a six minute set change he continued on with another dozen songs.

The set list included 'Five O'clock Somewhere,' 'Stars on the Water,' ' Son Of A Son Of A Sailor,' and 'Cheeseburger In Paradise' and a song he wrote for Willie Nelson, “Railroad Lady” for the final encore.

Jerry Jeff Walker was the opening act for the show. He performed 12 songs including “Trashy Women”, “Mr Bojangles”, and “Sangria Wine”. Jimmy Buffett and Mac McAnally joined in on the song “Something About a Boat”.

A Jimmy Buffet concert is apparently an all weekend event. Many of the concert-goers camped out on Friday night to set up their own tikibars and tailgating parties. Parking places renter for $200-$1200 for the weekend. It made for a tough time to find a parking spot but great people watching!

Jon and I spent our honeymoon in Key West, vacationed in the islands of Cozumel, Progresso; so the concert made to a fun flash back to beachy themed songs and Caribbean music. It made for a great 26th anniversary date!

So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the ropes that tied the rudders. Then hoisting the foresail to the wind they made for the beach. Acts 27:40

Today we headed to our local Barnes and Noble to see former first lady Laura Bush and her daughter Jenna at the book signing for Our Great Big Back Yard.

We had it on good authority that Mrs. Bush would be reading their new children's book, Our Great Big Backyard, a picture book tribute to our national parks. The Bush ladies were at a Dallas book signing last weekend, this weekends event was advertised as a book reading with crafts and events for young children.

It turned out that our 'good authority,' a Barnes & Noble employee was wrong or things changed. There was no first lady, and the local Children's librarian read the story. I pulled the picture from last week's press event of the authors, maybe we'll catch up with them at another event.

Friday, May 27, 2016

We quickly ran and made our food pick ups this morning for Metro Relief and then headed to the mall to meet up with friends to see Alice Through the Looking Glass. It's the continuing story of Alice in Wonderland who finds herself back in Underland. Her dear friend the Mad Hatter is in a funk over the loss of his family. Alice steals the Chronosphere from Time to save the Mad Hatter's family.

We had great plans of meeting for the first showing of the movie debut, but our plans were altered. The schools in out area took off for none of the built in snow days so they were off today and the theater was packed. Our group was able to get into the noon showing, so we spent a little time at the book store in the mall. It worked out just fine because we were planning to stop there afterwards anyway!

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. I Corinthians 13:12

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Jon has the rest of the week off because we had anniversary plans but my back issue called for a plan B. Our plan B included a visit to the outdoor amusement park Sandy Lake, similar to Tulsa's Bell's. Dallas is still having a lot of rain and the park was closed. So we moved to plan C, bowling at Pinstack.

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Today Jon and I celebrate twenty-six years of wedded bliss! It doesn't even seem possible for that much time to have passed. Like all good husbands, Jon took off work for today and the balance of the week for us to spend time together.

Not every anniversary can be a cruise in the south Caribbean. And this year was a take of the vows, "in sickness and in health." After all what doesn't scream twenty-six years like a few x-rays and a pre-op appointment!

I have a sprained sacroiliac joint with idiopathic scoliosis. The translation for that is I have a S-curved spine, and currently have a pain in my bum at the left sacroiliac joint, causing swelling and inflammation. The solution is surgery, well at least the insurance company calls it surgery, it's an out-patient procedure at the hospital.

They will do a camera scope and x-ray while injecting an anti-inflammatory and pain medication into an area about the width of a dime. It will be performed at the hospital with an IV cocktail and recovery should be about :30 minutes and then I can go home. The spinal surgeon said I should have relief for several weeks. I will have physical therapy twice a week for six weeks following the procedure.

This will be a walk in the park compared to the multiple cervical neck fusion with titanium plates and screws that I have done earlier. I'm fortunate to have the same spine surgeon performing this procedure and feel very comfortable with his skills. I'm very lucky to have Jon and Frankie to take care of me next week, because I'm not a very good at being still! It's a blessing that Abigail will be at camp and I don't have to be responsible for running her places. It's also great to have Caleb home to make those runs to the grocery store for me on his way home from work. After two years of back trouble, I'm looking forward to a little PT and I'll be good as new!

Sunday, May 22, 2016

With the school year ending, Summer is quickly approaching and with it are a few of my favorite things including Vacation Bible School. At the Church of Christ on McDermott Road we host an evening VBS for youth and adults.

Classes are offered with age appropriate lessons complete with games and lesson reinforcement's for the kids. Each evening finishes off with a twenty minute musical production of the days lesson. Like the last ten years, I've written the play for each night and other great team members have prepared the music, props, and costumes.

Our theme this year is 'Super Women of Faith.' Night one will feature Rahab; night two will highlight Ruth; night three will be Mary and we will finish off night four with Lydia. I love that we track the lineage of Christ through Rahab and Ruth to Mary the mother of Christ and then conclude with the first Gentile believer in Europe, Lydia.

I will narrate part of the story on stage as the 'Mom' along with my kiddos 'Michael' and 'Carolyn.' Abigail will be on-stage with me as Carolyn. Caleb will be in each night's story playing various roles like Joseph, Timothy and others. I like that Caleb was cast as Timothy, especially since my Dad's mother was named Eunice and my Mom's grandmother was named Lois! Talk about Super Women of Faith!

Right now we are rehearsals twice a week, the music is fantastic, I'm looking forward to seeing it all come together!

I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. 2 Timothy 1:5

Saturday, May 21, 2016

I get practically giddy when one of the kids ask for my help with some sort of craft project! So you can imagine my excitement when Abigail said she wanted a little help with t-shirts for Camp Blue Haven. Every year camp has a 'Twin Day' and each year Abby, Tate and Abigail wear something matching, last year they went as M&M's.

This year the girls decided to go as emojis. The girl's priced t-shirts and iron on transfers and were afraid that it wasn't very economical for a shirt they would only wear one day, enter today's craft project. Abigail and I visited Five Below, our local dollar store, and purchases three emoji pillows. Next we bargain shopped for black t-shirts.

The next few hours were spent with a seam ripper! Abigail used my Brother Serger to run a rolling napkin hem around the faces. We were able to use a light weight Wonder Under to position the faces on the shirts and then Abigail hand-sewed the faces to the shirts.

The picture in the lower right corner is the finished t-shirt project. From left to right: left (Blowing Kisses) is Abby; center (Tears of Joy) is Abigail; and right (Smiling face with heart eyes) is Tate!

The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. Numbers 6:25

Friday, May 20, 2016

The end of the school year brings lots of parties and celebrations, tonight was the end of the year festivities for the CHANT Chargers softball team. The girls enjoyed a pool party with special honors for the three graduating seniors. It was also an evening to say thank you to the coaches who have given up so much of their time to work with the girls.

The water was still a little chilly for most of the players, but the younger siblings didn't mind at all! Frankie feel in love with the sweetest Basset Hound that seemed pretty fond of her too!

Looking forward to next year with this great group of girls! It is really a night and day difference in the relationships and general attitudes of this team of Christian home schoolers versus the other select teams Abigail has played on. The select team help hone her skills but this high school team really enforces the reason why team work is important!

We know that for those who love God all things work together for good,

Several of our friends have gotten together to see most of the Marvel super hero movies. Today we took in the latest installment in the Avengers series, Captain America: Civil War.

In this movie a disagreement over international oversight of the Avengers fractures them into opposing factions—one led by Steve Rogers and the other by Tony Stark. The movie has huge overtones of big government and global over sight, but it also has great action sequences!

Sissy did not like the Avengers fighting, at all! Fortunately she is a big fan of hanging out with friends and the ice cream at Baskin Robbins after the movie!

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

The baby girl has finished up her first year of high school! We prefer to take a break during the summer. She will continue with Spanish and math over the next few months just because it's easier to keep up those skills if they are on going. The summer will also be filled with Driver's Ed with Dad!

This is the picture Abigail posted on Instagram today with the caption, "I want you to know that just because our theater season is over, doesn't mean I won't stalk you on social media." My funny girl! I'm looking forward to seeing what the Lord has in store for her next year.

Sunday, May 15, 2016

This afternoon our PEACH Drama Club met up to celebrate another successful year. The group autographed each others t-shirts, a favorite cast party tradition! Kids and parents alike participated in a Karaoke contest. Abigail sang back up for Krissie for the Disney classic Hercules, 'I Won't Say I'm in Love.' Abigail has always enjoyed the muses lyrics for the song.

As always any gathering of teens includes great food. The photo on the lower right is the kids Converse sneakers, you know the kind all the 'cool kids' wear! That is said with a great deal of humor, because no one ever tags 'cool kids' and 'homeschoolers' in the same post! It's more likely that one of them looked down and realized they had on the same style shoe and thought it would make a great photo!

Saturday, May 14, 2016

Remember the excitement of high school softball season ending? Hmm, well all during high school ball Abigail was also practicing twice a week with her tournament team, Rage. As a general rule, high school coaches don't want their players competing with other teams, mostly for fear of injury. But, players can do conditioning practice with another team if they are not actually playing games.

From late August until the first of May Abigail practiced about eight hours per week with Rage. Now that the softball season has ended, Rage can begin competing in tournaments with other select tournament teams. Today the girl had four games each an hour and a half long in a tournament in Ft. Forth. At the end of the day the girls will find out where they placed and will play one or two additional games tomorrow afternoon.

The girls played well, they are still getting used to playing as a team, but they are shaping up to be real contenders. Abigail had some good hits and caught for two of the games, she and the other catcher, Abbie took turns. Abbie and Abigail have played ball with since they were elementary age together playing on the Blue Crush.

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Caleb wouldn't feel like he was home unless we headed to Mecury Studios for a taping of the Glenn Beck show. Today's taping was an 'Ask Glenn Anything' style show.

Before the taping Glenn came out and welcomed everyone and then took them on a tour of his Oval Office at the studio. He has an Oval Office with replicas of many of the items that have been in former President's Offices. He gave the historical significance of some of the artwork. It was a great reminder of the door added to the front of the Resolute desk by Franklin Roosevelt to conceal his leg braces. That would later set up the iconic photo of John-John peaking through the door while JFK sat at the desk working.

Much of the conversation today centered around the upcoming election and what do conservatives do now that there isn't really a conservative candidate. Later when we were home we streamed the program on TheBlazeTV via the Internet so Jon and Frankie could see how we spent the afternoon!

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Good friends will drive from another state to see you rule Denmark. Great friends will bring you a couple dozen roses to celebrate your reign. Fantastic friends will take you out for Asian food the following day when your reign is over. And incredibly amazing friends will take a Queen to her favorite jewelry store and let her use their store birthday discount! Abigail is lucky enough to have those friends!

I'm pretty sure this was Ryan's first purchase in a jewelry store, not counting shopping for Ms. Donna. It was fun shopping with the kids as the boys took in the whole Kendra Scott experience. In the end Abigail picked out a bracelet to purchase with Christmas money that had been burning a hole in her pocket! We also stopped off for Roy's favorite Asian food, Pei Wei. It was so great to have the kids together. I know our house hasn't been the same with the gone.

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Tonight's the big night, the PEACH Drama Club proudly presents, 'Something's Rotten in the State of Denmark' at the Courtyard Theater in Plano, TX. The very best part of the evening was that the Gungan's came down from Oklahoma to cheer on their favorite sister. They even came with a couple dozen roses for the Queen! She has missed these guys and loved having them here!

The show was a sell-out and there were so many friends in the audience, it was great to see everyone! The photo to the right is the star of the show. No, it’s not Abigail! It is the humble, sweet spirited, kind, gentle director of our drama club, Mrs. Hansen. In six years of drama club I have never known her to seek glory for herself but work everything for the good of the group. I so admire her strength, humility and tireless efforts developing Godly young people. I'm fairly confident if the parents of PEACH paid her for her time and talents, we could not afford her!

After the performance the kids went out to Braum's to celebrate a successful performance, so many good memories.

Monday, May 9, 2016

Today was PEACH drama club's full-scale dress rehearsal for tomorrow nights performance of Something's Rotten in the State of Denmark. The cast members were in full costumes and on stage were the backdrop and props. All of the kids rehearsals have been at Calvary Chapel church. The church has been gracious in allowing us to use their facilities for free. The kids have made quarterly donations to the church's food pantry in appreciation.

Today's dress rehearsal was the first time for our group to rehearse in the lovely Courtyard Theater in Plano. In years past we have rented the McDermott church building but we figured out that we could rent the remodeled 1938 theater with state of the art lighting, sound and even spacious dressing rooms for a comparable fee! The kids loved being in this new venue! Another great advantage to the Courtyard Theater is that the rental fee includes advertising, including ads in their e-newsletter, digital marquee and lobby screens. Notice the fabulous digital artwork in the background!

My Queen Gertrude wore a lovely burgundy velvet dress that was donated to The Resource Center's homeless clothing drive. Needless to say, the homeless don't have a need for floor length formals, so Mr. Don set it aside for Abigail. She thought it would be fun to wear to one of the English Country dances in the winter. But when she got the role of Queen Gertrude she made a beautiful floral patterned sheer cape and 'voila' she was royalty!

So much goes into making such a great performance come together. There were moms organizing advertising; moms heading up concession stand duties; moms in charge of ticketing; students who gathered props and created the digital background transition screens. So much work behind the scenes with no accolades, all done for the good of the group! Can't wait to see the final product tomorrow night!

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 6:1

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Mother's Day was filled with church, softball, and vacation Bible school drama practice. Somewhere towards the end of the day we were all able to call and check in with the grand mothers and then head out to celebrate.

Jon and the kids treated us to dinner at MiCocina. A new location just opened up this week in our town. They have wonderful Tex-Mex food and one of my favorite spots for chips and salsa! There was also a small yellow box with a turquoise bow from the Kendra Scott store.

But my favorite item every Mother's Day is the homemade cards from the kids. Each creates their own card, sometimes with poetry or artwork and sweet wishes. It was a very busy day, but my heart is full. Everyday I am reminded how fortunate I am to be their mom. God has taken every thing Jon and I have done and magnified the good and minimized our mistakes. I'm ever so grateful!

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Parents, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. Colossians 3:20-21

With our PEACH Drama performance later this week, I realized I hadn't included this on the blog so now was the perfect time.

Contemporary art encompasses many different art forms, from traditional media such as paintings and drawings to more recently developed approaches that use digital and time based media. This fall Abigail was fortunate enough to attend a Digital Art Class at the Dallas Museum of Art. It probably wasn't as in depth as the classes Digital Imaging and Design Technology that my brother took, but it was a great introductory classes for high school students.

Each of the students were instructed to bring in existing digital art pieces on a thumb drive and then guided by the instructor they would transform it into their own art. The instructor covered copyright laws and that if it was not a piece that the youth would profit from or intent for malice to the original artist it was lawful.

Abigail chose to bring in the logo for the Broadway production of Something Rotten! A Very New Musical and transform it into a logo for our PEACH groups upcoming performance of Something's Rotten in the State of Denmark.

The original piece she started with is on top and Abigail's final version is below. I'm amazed at the final result, I think it took her almost the entire two hour class to clean up the original image and add the changes. There are art 'snobs' who don't consider digital art an art form, but after watching the kids in this class manipulate their images; copy, clone and edit microscopic pieces to create their masterpieces, I'm thoroughly impressed.

Abigail entered her artwork in the PEACH art contest for the t-shirt design for the drama club shirts this year and although she didn't win I could not be more thrilled with her heart to learn a new skill and use it for the good of her PEACH group. The art work was included on the Courtyard Theaters website, marquee and the box office tickets! Clearly they approved of her skills!

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Philippians 2:3-4

Saturday, May 7, 2016

So you thought softball season was over, didn't you? I don't know that it ever really ends, what has ended is the high school softball season. Abigail's CHANT Chargers high school season has ended. The high school players can't play on the select teams during the season, so the girls do conditioning and drills with their select team a couple of times a week but don't play games. Now that the high school season is over, competitive ball begins.

Abigail is playing ball with RAGE and this weekend was the first of many tournament weekends. Today she played three games at a tournament in Southlake. Abigail played outfield in the first game, caught for the second game and was a relief player for the third game.

Even though this was the first weekend for the girls to play together, Abigail has played ball with several of the girls on this team since she was in elementary school. Today Rage won one game and lost two. But, the girls have a good sense of team work and I think their game will continue to improve as they get more games under their belt.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human praise.

Friday, May 6, 2016

Freshman year is in the books, for both of the younger kids. Grade level is always tricky when their home schooled. The boy has dual credit and the girl has higher level classes. But for simplicity sake, I've kept their grade classification consistent with their age. It's silly, some home schoolers get upset at this usually well-intentioned question of, 'what grade are they in?' I see no reason to to be the parent that pontificates about Pookie doing Latin by age 4! Generally, I’ve taught the kids to respond with whatever grade they would be in if we were institutionally schooled. When in Rome, blah, blah, blah.

I wouldn't want to imply that my kid is smarter than someone else's child, especially having been the parent of a kiddo who struggled in school. I’d rather exceed other people’s lower expectations, than fail to measure up to their higher ones. So for generalization, both of the kiddos are Freshmen, one in high school and one in college.

As their mom, I celebrate that they both had successful school years; actively lived out their faith in service and teaching to others; both found time for extra-curricular activities utilizing their God-given talents; and both were surround by supportive, like-minded friends! Sound like a fantastic year to me!

The boy drove home today after finishing up his last final yesterday. His first stop was to check in at his summer job at Hawaiian Falls where he will be working in the office. Next he headed to Abigail's drama practice to surprise her! Abigail's friend Gracie took these sweet picture of their excitement to be reunited! After drama practice the kids swung by the house and picked up Frankie to go get some ice cream and celebrate the beginning of Summer together!

“When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited.If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place.But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. Luke 14:8-10

Thursday, May 5, 2016

'From the sublime to the exhilarating, Mexican, South American, and Spanish composers have given us a rich diversity of beautiful music,' is what the Educational page of the website read. The Dallas Symphony offers several performances each school year for student. Our awesome home school group, PEACH, has attended these events since long before we joined in 2005. Many of the performance are geared toward an Elementary age group in that the dialog between songs is simplistic in nature. But the performances themselves are always first class. Even as a parent of older kids I found myself amused at the younger kids in the audience 'conducting' the orchestra and the sheer wonder of such musical masters!

Today's performance was a celebration of Cinco de Mayo, and for posterity's sake the repertoire included: Revueltas: Sensemayá; Marquez: Danzon No. 2; Piazzolla: Oblivion; Chavez: Sinfonia India; Villa Lobos: Aria from Bachianas brasileiras No. 5; and Defalla: "Ritual Fire Dance" from El amor brujo. I'm confident I could butcher the pronunciation of all of those pieces! Fortunately Abigail's Spanish is much better and she read the program to me!

Music is so powerful and it invokes so much emotion and expression. I find myself awestruck when listening to such talent. Even when my own kids play the piano or sing, I swell up with pride; I've often wondered if that's how God feels when he hears us. Maybe that is why He commanded us to sing!

After a magical morning of symphonies, Abigail and I stopped by Klyde Warren Park for lunch. I promise this was a school related event. After all we used this opportunity to observe people in their natural habitat, milling through the food trucks and interacting with others.

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Base running is probably one of the most under-coached elements of fast pitch softball. That’s a shame, because smart base running can turn the tide during a ballgame and generate more wins.

It certainly helps to have 2.7 speed from home to first. But some of the best baserunners I’ve seen had average speed. But what they were was smart. When they were on first, they would look to see whether the shortstop was covering second after each pitch, or even paying attention if the ball wasn’t put in play. They knew they didn’t have the speed to steal the base outright, but they knew they could pull off a delayed steal pretty easily. Knowing what to do and when a huge advantage on the bases.

There are other components to be considered besides the watching the shortstop. Tonight Abigail learned the difference in running and particularly sliding on turf versus a dirt infield. She had a nice hit and rounded first, headed to second when the coach yelled for her to ‘get down’ meaning the ball was headed to second and she needed to get there fast by sliding. She got down sliding into second only to find she was sliding on turf, slick turf, not rough textured dirt.

When she finally did get stopped, second base was somewhere under her shoulder blades. The umpire was laughing as he called her safe. She was laughing so hard she had trouble calling ‘time’ so she could stand up on second without getting out. The very next play, coach told her to steal third but the opponents player was in the base line causing another disjointed and amusing play. She made it to third, again laughing with the coach shaking his head. The Chargers took the win 12-0 over Canyon Creek Christian Academy but both teams may return to the basics at their next practice.

Art takes so many forms and today our PEACH group explored nature at the Dallas Arboretum to explore the art of photography. The students investigated the basic elements of photography and analyzed what a photographer must keep in mind when capturing an image of nature by and Arboretum educator.

After classroom time we were able to explore the Arboretum’s 66 acres by beautiful White Rock Lake. The kids explored the mist in the Palmer Fern Dell and investigated the fossils in the water walls at the Lay Ornamental Garden.

The Great Contributors exhibit is currently on display, it is a part of Gary Lee Price’s renowned art collection. Price is a member of the National Sculpture Society, and recognized worldwide for his life-size bronze sculptures. Throughout the gardens we were greeted by his sculptures including Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Claude Monet, Albert Einstein, William Shakespeare, Mark Twain and the Wright Brothers.

We had a great group of middle and high school aged students with all forms of personal technology like digital cameras, tablets, smart phones, etc. creating their own nature art photographs. Abigail is looking forward to taking her photos and using some of the great tips she learned in the digital art class she took at the DMA.